Chapter 148
“…Shut it.”
“Oh my, how frightening. How could you say such a thing to a patient who’s only just woken from his sickbed?”
At Daniel’s brazen taunting, Leo clicked his tongue.
“Patient? You were just pretending to sleep.”
That way, he could make Alicia feel guilty.
Wasn’t it only natural for a person to feel more affection for someone who had saved them?
Even more so when that ‘savior’ had put their life on the line.
However, that was far from reality. Rather than putting his life on the line, Daniel was completely and utterly fine.
“It’s not my fault that those incompetent priests can’t even properly examine my current condition.”
Sitting up from the backrest, Daniel stared at Leo with a serious expression.
But soon, there was a light-hearted smile.
Sitting straight and with his posture impeccable, Daniel gave off a very elegant impression, unlike his usual happy-go-lucky demeanor.
“It’ll go on smoothly from here on out. I won’t hurt your beloved Alicia, so there’s nothing for you to worry about. All you need to do is be there in the moment of her weakness, and you’ll be her support—a savior who would appear suddenly.”
After saying so, Daniel sipped his tea.
Even after he heard the cup’s small clatter as it was placed down, Leo did not answer.
His red eyes were dazed.
Daniel laughed out loud. He could almost imagine what kind of delusions were going on through that man’s mind right now.
“Ah, but actually, there’s someone who’s already her support, isn’t there?”
The formerly unfocused eyes turned towards the airy voice of the other man.
“During the hunting festival, you asked me to keep Alicia away so that she wouldn’t get hurt, yes? I was so touched to hear it that it almost brought a tear to my eye.”
As Daniel continued to exaggerate, Leo’s sharp brows became wrinkled.
“Stop it with the nonsense. Just keep your word.”
“Yes, of course.”
Hearing the stern tone reproaching him, Daniel simply replied with a shrug.
Then, he took out a black bead from his pocket and handed it to Leo.
Without any questions, Leo took it and brought it to his mouth.
He did it so naturally, too.
Well, it had been quite a few months since he started ingesting the beads, so it was only right.
Cruuunch—
Crushed by Leo’s molars, the bead let out a rough sound as it broke into pieces before going down his throat.
Soon, a reaction broke out throughout his entire body.
Thump, thump, thump.
It felt as if something boiling, hot red was coursing through his pounding heart.
Fingertips, toes, head.
His blood started rushing through his veins, circulating rampantly as his body’s senses became extremely sensitive. Vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Everything had been sharpened.
He always likened this moment to an ‘evolution’.
It was the kind of ‘evolution’ wherein an individual would go beyond the limitations of humanity.
Leo smiled satisfactorily at the evolution he experienced today.
It was an eerie smile.
‘Fool.’
Daniel thought as he watched Leo put that bead into his mouth.
The bead melted in his mouth soon after he took it, gulping it down like liquid.
However, unlike how Leo saw it, he did not truly transform or change.
To put it in another way, it was only that his exhausted body had regained some energy?
Of course.
This was not Leo’s own strength in the first place. It was the strength of the owner of those beads.
The act of ingesting those beads was just like being lent a small portion of his power for a little while.
Therefore, there was no change beyond the original state.
That’s right. There were no such positive effects.
Watching Leo, who was still breathing heavily, Daniel sat cross-legged.
He leaned back deep into the sofa behind him, closing his eyes again. As he did, he could hear only that man’s breathing, which merely sounded like a wild animal’s rough panting in his ears.
Other than that, everything else was silent.
Those lips smiled deeply once more.
Beyond his darkened vision, a woman’s face appeared.
No. In truth, he thought of this face each and every moment, so it would be more correct to say that the image only became clearer the moment he closed his eyes.
Fluttering blond hair. Blue eyes.
Rita.
Soon after, Rita’s face gradually faded.
But now, with its façade outlining her like a shadow, another face coincided over Rita’s visage.
Cold silver hair. Clear gold eyes.
Rosetta.
Still, to him, Rita was Rita.
She was wearing another face, but the fact that she was Rita would never change, and his feelings would never fade.
So.
‘Rita, wait a little longer.’
I won’t make another mistake this time.
One foolish mistake was enough in the previous life.
This time…
* * *
Before entering the city proper, the busily moving carriage stopped in front of an unusually deserted café.
Rosetta checked on Alicia first, and after seeing that her sister was still fast asleep, she knocked softly on the carriage wall behind her to alert the coachman.
Soon, the coachman rushed out and opened the door quietly.
Rosetta looked at him without a word for a moment, then she opened her lips to speak. She was smiling faintly.
“Would you mind going in there for a short while? You always go through such trouble for me, so I’ve prepared some gifts for you over there.”
With an elegant finger, she pointed towards the café in front of the carriage.
The coachman hesitated at first, but he soon bowed deeply and headed into the establishment.
Soon, the coachman returned to the vehicle.
His arms were full of cookie and cake boxes.
With flushed cheeks, he ran back to Rosetta, Lanco and Maxwell, who had already gotten out of the carriage.
“What do you say, Melvin? Do you like the gifts?”
“Of course, Milady. These are such high-quality desserts… I’m sure my wife and daughter will be overjoyed.”
Melvin replied excitedly.
In response, Rosetta smiled gently and patted the man on the shoulder.
“That’s good to hear. I always trouble you with various things, so at the very least, I should take care of you.”
“Thank you always for your kindness, Milady.”
“Don’t mention it. Take the cakes and cookies to the carriage. Head straight to the ducal manor. And, about what happened today…”
Rosetta trailed off.
Already understanding what she meant by that, Melvin nodded as hard as he could.
“Yes. I will keep it a secret.”
Unlike the exaggerated nodding, his voice had dropped to a hush.
Rosetta smiled with satisfaction and nodded once.
The quick-witted Melvin loaded the carriage with the boxes and hurried back to his seat.
As Diana went back into the carriage, Rosetta’s eyes went towards her and Alicia and Diana.
She watched Alicia, who was sleeping soundly, then faced Diana.
“Please take care of Alicia. If my older brother asks where I am, just say that I stopped by the café for just a while.”
“I will, Milady. Then, please return safely.”
“Yes.”
When Rosetta took a step back, Maxwell closed the carriage door quietly.
So that the person sleeping inside wouldn’t wake up.
The wheels of the carriage soon began to roll smoothly once more.
Standing tall, Rosetta stared at the departing carriage, then soon turned around and headed for the café.
Lanco and Maxwell followed.
* * *
Without saying a word between them, the three headed straight for the deepest part of the establishment.
It was a secret place that had been created by Blanca, who was the owner of this café.
Still with no conversation between them, the three of them wordlessly sat around a round table.
Tea had already been prepared for them beforehand, and steam rose like wisps above the cups.
Sitting with her legs crossed, Rosetta tapped the warm teacup with her fingernails.
Then, she looked up at the man sitting opposite her.
Just before getting into the carriage when they had departed the Carter residence, Lanco had given him a new mask, which he was wearing now.
He only got to remove his mask again after sitting down.
With the mask off, the bruise on his neck became more noticeable.
“How’s your injury?”
At Rosetta’s question, the man blinked. He looked like he was contemplating where it was that he felt pain.
Then, after seemingly remembering where exactly he’d been injured, he pointed to his neck with one hand.
“It doesn’t hurt. I was just pretending that it did.”
He turned his hand over and wiped his neck with the back of his hand.
And along with his touch, the black bruise got smudged.
Now that she thought about it, he’d been talking in a raspy voice from some point on.
“Hoh.”
Rosetta shrugged, smirking.
“How meticulous of you.”
“I’m quite good at dealing with overly sharp people.”
The nonchalant reply made Rosetta roll her eyes.
“Well, I thought you got a little hurt because there was a lot of blood around you.”
Above his dark eyes, his brows were raised slightly as he answered back quietly, his tone quiet.
“Ah, that blood belonged to one other person.”
“Hm? One person?”
When Rosetta asked, she recalled the situation she had seen earlier.
After careful deliberation, she remembered one particular pool of blood.
Because there were so many things going on, and with the tensions soaring high back then, she caught herself unknowingly thinking that the blood had been from ‘many people’.
While thinking about that bleak scene, the man sitting across from her spoke up.
“I tried to get a confession from him, but he suddenly vomited blood and died.”
“…A restriction spell.”
“Yes, it seems so.”
Of course.
It should not be leaked anywhere else that a member of the household had directly planted intruders in his family’s abode.
Therefore, he could have cast a ‘silencing’ restriction spell in advance to all those who had the role of ‘intruder’.
The moment they’d try to confess the truth, they would vomit blood and die.
‘Then, the intruders by now…’
They all would have been executed by now.
No matter how much money he had paid them, there was no surer way to keep it all a hush than killing everyone involved.
‘Those people’s safety isn’t my business anyway.’
Swallowing down such words without an ounce of sympathy, Rosetta opened her lips to speak. Her eyes were fixed upon the man’s teacup.
“For all that happened today, you’ve done well, Maxwell.”
Through the white steam rising and subsiding from the teacup, she could see the face of the man as it was reflected upon the tea’s surface.
Chin rested on one hand, Rosetta clicked her tongue when she realized her mistake.
“Ah. Not Maxwell…”
Logan, I mean.
After saying this, a languid smile rested upon her lips.